MRT reliability up in Oct; LTA releases punctuality, passenger impact data for TEL

MRT trains on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) fared slightly poorer in terms of punctuality in October than in September, while overall punctuality on the other train lines improved slightly.

- Lee Nian Tjoe Senior Transport Correspondent

On Dec 12, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) released for the first time punctuality data for TEL trains, showing that 98.75 per cent of them completed their trips within two minutes of their scheduled times in October.

In September, the figure was 99.36 per cent.

Newly published data also showed that TEL trains travelled 98.21 per cent of their scheduled mileage in October, down from 98.88 per cent in September.

A higher value reflects greater rail reliability because it means more trains were on schedule.

According to LTA data, there were three major delays exceeding 30 minutes on the TEL over the past 12 months. The delays on March 12, July 1 and Sept 17 were estimated to have affected an average of up to 4.4 per cent of passengers travelling daily on the line.

The overall reliability of Singapore’s rail network, meanwhile, edged up in October, said LTA.

On average, trains covered 1.673 million train-km between delays lasting more than five minutes between November 2024 and October 2025.

This is a slight improvement from the average of 1.671 million train-km recorded between October 2024 and September 2025.

It comes after two consecutive months of declines in reliability.

The Downtown Line (DTL), operated by SBS Transit (SBST), remained the most reliable of five MRT lines, clocking an average of 2.775 million train-km between delays in October, slightly higher than the 2.768 million train-km in September.